In our application Ser. No. 277,884, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,903, which was a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 78,412, now abandoned, we disclose a method and device for the manufacture of footwear wherein in a loading station of a sole attaching device, the upper is placed on a last, secured in its position thereafter by a side frame forming part of the sole mold cavity, whereupon after locking the side frame against the last, the unit is moved to a molding station to close a sole cavity, where preferably by injection molding, a sole is formed and bonded to the bottom margin of the upper. The sealing of the sole cavity against the upper is obtained by a lip of the side frame which has to be relatively heavy to withstand the pressure of the sole material.
It is known in the manufacture of stitch-down shoes to use a lip plate separated from the sole cavity member provided with a blanking knife edge. The lip plate serves as an anvil plate and is, therefore, subjected to heavy pressure which is required to cut through both the upper material and the stitch-down midsole.